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Inspired by the profiled structure of polar bear hair that possesses excellent thermal insulation properties, a novel profiled polyacrylonitrile-polystyrene (PAN-PS) core–shell nanofibrous membrane with peculiar groove structures and excellent direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) performance was designed and manufactured by using an eccentric-axial electrospinning technique. Fiber surface morphology analyses indicated the major contributing role of applied voltage and the shell feeding rate in determining the stability of the electrospinning fluid jet, groove length and width, and membrane structural characteristics. The superhydrophobic properties resulting from the surface hierarchical roughness, prominent void volume fraction, fabulous gas permeability, appropriate mean flow pore (MFP) size and relatively considerable liquid entry pressure of water (LEPw) of the free-standing electrospun nanofibrous …